Battle of Wavre

The Battle of Wavre (18-19 June 1815) was the final major military action of the Hundred Days campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, occurring concurrently with the decisive Battle of Waterloo. A Prussian army of 17,000 troops under General Johann von Thielmann, the rearguard of Gebhard von Blucher's main army, began a holding action to keep Emmanuel de Grouchy's three French corps (some 33,000 troops) from reinforcing Napoleon I at Waterloo. The Prussians launched several failed attacks against the French, and the French managed to break through Prussian lines and cross the Dyle River on the morning of 19 June 1815. However, they were too late to reinforce Napoleon at Waterloo, and Grouchy and his army decided to withdraw to Paris as Napoleon's forces streamed south in retreat.